From the idea in your head to your first order in your hands.
Six stages, 35 small missions, every number and every AI shortcut, in the order that works. Written so simply you could follow it on your most tired day.
A 46-page guide so you don't miss a step, a spreadsheet that does the maths, and a copy-and-paste kit with AI prompts to speed up your process.
Instant download · PDF + spreadsheet + Word doc · Works on any device
Trusted by the V&A, the National Gallery, the Royal Collection Trust, Chatsworth House and Fenwick, and 50+ founders and artists.
Follow it one small mission at a time, and in about twelve weeks you go from an idea in your head to a signed, factory-ready sample, with a waitlist already forming.
By the end, you'll have:
- A clear why, one customer and one hero product that strangers have already said yes to, before you spend a penny
- A factory-ready tech pack and a signed golden sample, in two or three sample rounds instead of a costly sampling spiral
- Your true cost, your price, and the exact number you must sell to get your money back
- A maker you chose with your eyes open, with price, dates, quality and payment agreed in writing
- A waitlist, a shop, photos and words that match the real product, and a launch plan for launch week
What's covered
Everything from idea to first order, in the order it happens.
- 1 Finding your why and drawing your one customer
- 2 Choosing one hero product (not a range) and testing it with ten strangers before you spend
- 3 Checking your brand name is free, and when to trademark it
- 4 Mood board, flat sketch, choosing fabric and five simple swatch tests
- 5 Colour codes, trims, labels and the UK labelling rules
- 6 Writing a tech pack: the seven pages, measurements, size chart, bill of materials and construction
- 7 Your true cost per unit (all eight costs), pricing, margin and markup, made simple
- 8 Your first sample made locally, reviewing it like a professional, and feedback in numbers
- 9 Wear and wash testing, and signing off your golden sample
- 10 How many to make: minimums, cash and demand
- 11 Finding makers, the questions to ask, red flags, and comparing quotes fairly (including EXW, FOB and DDP)
- 12 The pre-production audit, payment terms and putting it all in writing
- 13 Checking production, inspecting stock when it lands, and importing basics
- 14 Your one-page proof plan for investors, banks or yourself
- 15 Your waitlist, comment keywords and a 30-day pre-launch content plan
- 16 The AI launch weekend: product photos, on-model images, motion clips, descriptions and your website
- 17 Building your shop, the UK rules for selling online, and running launch week
Sound familiar?
- You have a name, a mood board and 400 Pinterest pins, and you've been "thinking about it" for a year or two.
- You've been googling "how to find a manufacturer" and every answer leaves you with more tabs open.
- You're scared of spending thousands on samples that come back wrong.
- You don't know what a tech pack is, what your product will really cost, or what to price it at.
- You've trademarked the name... and then nothing happened.
You don't need more information. You need the order of things, and someone to tell you what to do next.
Why I made this
I've spent twenty years taking brands from sketch to shelf, including ten years producing for the V&A Museum, and I've taken more than fifty first-time founders through their first product.
On my calls, almost every founder starts with the same sentence: "Help me find a manufacturer." And almost every one of them is really at stage one or two. A factory will happily take your deposit at stage one. It will also make exactly what you asked for, which is not what you pictured.
Nobody fails at this for lack of talent. They fail because nobody told them the order. So I wrote it down: every step, every number, every email, in the order I use with my own clients.
What's in it
Three files, ready to download the moment you buy.
The Playbook
Every stage is explained in your brand-building space, which helps you just start. Six stages follow the cake comparison all the way through.
- 35 small missions, each showing how long it takes, what it costs and what "done" looks like
- The same boxes on every page: easy-to-follow steps, a space to write, a worked example, mistakes to avoid, a prompt to paste into AI, and a checklist before moving on
- Maya, a founder, runs through the whole book, so you can see exactly how to apply each step to your own brand
- Extras: a "Where am I?" quiz, a 12-week plan, a "when things go wrong" table, a 47-word brand-building glossary and a master checklist
The Toolkit
A true cost and price calculator, plus the quiz, a tech pack, a sample log, a maker scorecard, a stock check, a budget, the 12-week plan and the 30-day content plan.
- Yellow cells are for you to type in, and they start filled with Maya's example. Everything else does the maths for you
- The sample log marks each measurement PASS or FIX, and your dates fill in from the day you start
The Copy & Paste Kit
A Brand Voice Card, 30 AI prompts numbered to match the Playbook, nine supplier emails (from first contact to reporting faults) and scripts for your ten customer conversations.
- The one-page proof plan
- Launch emails and captions
It works with my tested guides. At the right step, a "Go deeper" box points you to one of my eight bhavna.com guides. The Playbook gives you the order, the free guides give you the detail, and the Playbook adds what they don't have: a worked example from start to finish, a calculator that does the maths, the AI launch weekend, and the waitlist and content plan.
The six stages
If you can bake a cake, you can follow this.
Idea
Who is the party for?
Your why, your one customer, your one hero product, and ten honest conversations with strangers before you spend a penny.
Design
Choose the cake
A one-page mood board, a flat sketch (ugly is fine), a fabric you've tested, a colour code and every trim listed.
Spec
Write the recipe
A tech pack a stranger could make your product from, a size chart, and your true cost and price.
Sample
Bake one test cake
Two or three sample rounds, feedback in numbers, a wear-and-wash test and a signed golden sample.
Manufacture
Bake a hundred
The right quantity for your cash, three comparable quotes, everything in writing, and stock checked when it lands.
Launch
Throw the party
A one-page proof plan, a waitlist, 30 days of content, the AI launch weekend, your shop and launch week.
Meet Maya
Maya is a nurse with two children, £6,000 saved and a Pinterest board of 400 linen shirts. She was about to email ten factories she'd found on Google.
Instead, she follows the Playbook. You watch her talk to ten strangers, test five fabrics, fix her sample in numbers, compare three makers, work out that her true cost is £48.96 (not the £28 the factory quoted), and launch 100 shirts to a waitlist of 640 people.
Almost every mission shows Maya's filled-in answer, so you're never staring at a blank page wondering what "good" looks like.
Maya is an example founder, built from the patterns I see in real clients.
Is it for me?
It's for you if
- You have an idea for a fashion or product brand, or you're up to a year in and stuck
- You want to start small, spend carefully and do it properly
- You'd rather follow clear steps than piece it together from Google and YouTube, advisors, or salesy brand-building companies
It's not for you if
- You want someone to do it all for you (that's my 1:1 service: DM me PLAN)
- You're already producing thousands of units a season
What founders say about working with me
“We have to say that Bhavna is a delight to work with, she's trustworthy and carries great integrity which is a rare commodity in this day and age. We are looking forward to the future with Bhavna as we build our brand and our working relationship with her. After an initial chat with Bhavna six months ago, she helped to restore our hope and focus and promised to deliver, which she did. We had our first samples within one month and finished products two months ago. We will be launching in a couple of months so watch this space.”
Matthew Wright & Elisha Wright
Co-founders, Houldsworth of Cheltenham
“I'm very impressed with the design of my DLK Do It Your Way golf top. The designer captured the vision perfectly with great attention to detail and creativity. Professional, efficient, and a pleasure to work with—I highly recommend Bhavna and her work.”
Sammy
Founder, DLK
Brands, artists and institutions I've worked with
About Bhavna
I'm Bhavna Rishi, founder of Build the Dream Brand. I was told fashion wasn't the safe path. I had a career in banking and three children, and I chose it anyway. Twenty years later, I've taken more than fifty brands from sketch to shelf, including ten years producing for the V&A Museum. I still remember how it felt at the start: the endless googling, the fear of wasting money, the wrong but expensive advice, the not knowing, the overwhelm and the quiet question of whether someone like me belonged in this industry. This Playbook is everything I wish someone had handed me.
The Dream Brand Playbook
46-page Playbook (PDF) + Toolkit spreadsheet + Copy & Paste Kit
£39
Will be £129 after 15 November 2026
- 6 stages and 35 small missions
- True cost and price calculator
- Tech pack, sample log and maker scorecard
- 30 AI prompts and 9 supplier emails
- Launch emails and captions
- Instant download
Questions
Do I need fashion training or experience?
No. Every word a factory uses is explained, there's a glossary at the back, and Maya shows you what every filled-in page looks like.
Is it only for clothing?
The examples are clothing, but the six stages work for any physical product brand: scarves, bags, accessories, homeware. The recipe, the sample, the costing and the launch are the same.
I'm not in the UK. Will it work for me?
The steps work anywhere. Costs are typical UK figures and the rules on labels, VAT and selling online are UK rules, so check your own country's rules at those steps.
What do I need to open it?
A PDF reader, Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets for the Toolkit, and Word, Pages or Google Docs for the Kit. The AI prompts work in Claude, ChatGPT or any similar assistant.
How long will it take?
Most founders can go from idea to a signed golden sample in about twelve weeks, doing one small mission at a time. Production and launch follow.
I already have the free Launch Blueprint. Is this the same?
No. The Blueprint is the map. The Playbook walks the road with you: 35 missions, a worked example, the calculator, the tech pack, the scripts and the launch plan.
How do I get it?
Straight after you pay, you'll get an email with all three files to download.
You have the dream. This is the order.
Get the Playbook · £39P.S. Not sure where you are? The Playbook starts with a five-minute "Where am I?" quiz, so you start at the right stage, not stage one, if you've already done the work.